Michener, John

MICHENER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 13:53:12

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.910

JOHN MICHENER
John Michener, who for a number of years was successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits in Belmont Township, passed away on the home farm on section 10, this township, on the 7th of July, 1889. He was born in Morrow County, Ohio, April 18, 1812, his parents being Mordecai and Susanna (Shaw) Michener. The father, who was of English parentage, was born in Pennsyl­vania, September 6, 1782, followed farming as a life work and died in Ohio, August 15, 1836. The birth of his wife occurred August 7, 1783, and she was also of English descent, her mother being a member of the Longstuff family. Her death also occurred in Ohio, on the 4th of May, 1834. The eleven children born unto Mordecai and Susanna (Shaw) Michener are all now deceased.
John Michener, who was the third in order of birth, was reared in his native state and there remained until coming to Iowa, as did likewise several other members of the family. Coming to this state about 1850, he located first near Oskaloosa and subsequently took up his abode at New Sharon, where he was engaged as land agent for Culberson & Reno, of Iowa City. He sold a large amount of land but was essentially a farmer, owning different tracts of land in Mahaska County. He assisted in laying out the town of New Sharon, which remained his place of abode from 1854 until 1876, when he sold the farm which he owned near that town and came to Warren County, Iowa. On arriving here he located on the farm in Belmont Township which is still the home of his widow and family and is operated by his son, F. B. Michener, and was successfully connected with the agricultural interests of this county until the time of his retirement from active life.
Mr. Michener was twice married. He first wedded, in 1836, Miss Susanna Pierson, who passed away in Mahaska County, Iowa, in 1868, leaving six children: Charles, Enoch, Esther, Martha, David, and Alice. On the 6th of June, 1870, he was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Tamar Bailey, who was born in Highland County, Ohio, August 26, 1833, her parents being Amos and Lydia (Davis) Hiatt. Her father was born April 2, 1806, and about 1858 located in Mahaska County, Iowa, where his death occurred His wife survived him until 1895, passing away in Warren County, Iowa, on the 1st of July of that year, when eighty-one years of age Tamar was the eldest of their eleven children, of whom four sons and four daughters are still living. She was reared in Ohio and in that state first gave her hand in marriage to William Y. Bailey, who died in New Sharon, Mahaska County, Iowa, April 5, 1864, when more than thirty-five years of age. To this union were born four children, namely: Arthur, who has passed away; William, residing in Cali­fornia; John, who makes his home in the west; and Yarnal, of Guthrie County, Iowa.
Unto John Michener and his second wife was born one son, Francis B., whose birth occurred in Mahaska County, Iowa, August 21, 1872. He was brought by his parents to Warren County in 1876, was here reared and educated and has operated the home farm for the past twenty years. In the conduct of his agricultural interests he has met with a gratifying and enviable measure of success and is widely recognized as one of the enterprising and progressive young farmers of the community.
On the 9th of October, 1895, in this county, Francis B. Michener was united in marriage to Miss Florence Gibbons, who was born in Belmont Township, Warren County, May 7, 1873, a daughter of Lindley H. and Mary (White) Gibbons. The mother of Mrs. F. B. Michener was born in Morgan County, Indiana, and accompanied her parents on their removal to Warren County in 1849, when but nine years of age, the family home being established near Palmyra. Her father's death occurred near Ackworth and her mother passed away at the old home. On the 1st of June, 1872, at Palmyra, Mary White gave her hand in marriage to Lindley H. Gibbons. The latter was born in Belmont County, Ohio, in June, 1836, but came to Warren County, Iowa, at an early day and at the time of his marriage located a half mile east of Motor, in Belmont Township, where his death occurred in 1894. His wife still survives him, having now attained the age of sixty-nine years. Mrs. F. B. Michener, their only child, was reared in Belmont Township and attended the academy at Ackworth, coming under the instruction of Professor Beard and Professor Carter. She is now the mother of three children, namely: John L., who was born August 14, 1896; Eva Laura, born September 21, 1899; and Rhena May, whose natal day was September 16, 1902.
In his political views Francis B. Michener is a Republican, with strong temperance tendencies. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Milo, while in religious faith he and his family are Friends. Having been a resident of this county for almost a third of a century he is well known and highly esteemed and the circle of his friends is almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintances.